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ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER (“EFT”)
AGREEMENT
YOUR AGREEMENT WITH US
“We,” “us,” “our” and “Bank” all refer to Fairfield County Bank
and Ridgefield Bank, a division of Fairfield County Bank.
“Account” refers to any Account at our bank
from or to which we allow electronic fund transfers (“EFTs”).
“You” and
“your” apply to anyone who has an Account with us and is authorized to use the applicable EFT.
“ATM” refers to any automated teller machine where you can use your Card and PIN. The design and logo of
one of the Bank’s divisions appear on the Application, Card,
and our ATMs.
“Point of Sale” or “POS” terminal refers to an electronic
terminal at which you can use your Card and PIN to pay for
goods and services by debiting an account. A POS
transaction includes a transaction in which you use your Card
and/or PIN to pay for goods and services by debiting an account
whether or not an electronic terminal is used at the time of
the transaction. This includes Visa Check Card transactions.
“Card” refers to the Bank ATM Card, Visa Check (Debit) Card or Premier Visa Check Card.
“PIN” refers, as applicable, to the personal identification number you agree to use to identify yourself when
using an ATM or POS terminal or making a telephone transfer.
These PINs need not be the same.
“Checking” refers to the NOW or Checking
Account that you have selected in your application for the EFT
service.
“Savings” refers to the Savings Account that you
have selected in your EFT application for the EFT service.
“Money
Market Account” refers to the Money Market Checking or
Money Market Savings Account that you have selected in
your application for the EFT service.
“Reserve Credit” means the Personal Credit Line Agreement.
“Available Funds” means the money in your Account which can be withdrawn or transferred together with
any credit you may have available to you under your Reserve
Credit Agreement. Available Funds may be less than the
entire balance in your Account if, for example, we have placed a
“hold” against certain funds in your Account for a certain
number of days to allow a reasonable time for checks deposited
to or cashed against your Account to clear.
I. WHAT IS AN “EFT”?
An “EFT” is a transfer of your funds at our bank
which is initiated electronically, for example, by telephone
or computer or ATM. We currently offer the following EFT
services:
(a) Direct Deposit. You can arrange for the direct
deposit to your Account of Social Security benefits or other
deposits, such as payroll, that we allow to be deposited
directly to your Account through the computer.
(b) Telephone Transfer. You can use your Account numbers and, if applicable, your PIN to transfer funds by
telephone between certain Accounts on request. Any transfer
called in after 2:00 p.m., may result in a delay in making
the transfer until the next business day.
(c) Pre-authorized Payments. You can arrange to have payments or transfers (that we allow) made from certain
Accounts automatically. These payments or transfers
are
made to third parties such as insurance and utility
companies.
(d) Services Available Through ATMs. You may use your Card and PIN to do the following through our ATMs:
1. You can withdraw Available Funds from your Checking, Savings, or Money Market Account.
2. You can make deposits to your Checking, Savings
or Money Market Account.
3. You can transfer Available Funds between your Checking, Savings, or Money Market Accounts from any one to the other.
4. You can make payments on mortgages or certain other loans with us.
5. If you have Reserve Credit, you can, by
overdrawing your Checking Account, obtain a loan advance from the credit available under the Reserve Credit.
(e) ATM Charges by Other Institutions. When you use an ATM not owned by us, you may be charged a fee by the ATM operator or any network used (and you may be charged a fee for a balance inquiry even if you do
not complete a fund transfer).
(f) Other Services Available with your Card and PIN. You can pay for purchases by accessing your Checking Account through a POS terminal at merchants that
have agreed to accept the Card and PIN. At the time of
the purchase you may also be able to withdraw cash, subject to the merchant’s policy and cash availability.
If your Card is a Visa Check (Debit) Card, you can
use your card without your PIN to access your Checking
Account for purchases at merchants accepting Visa Debit
Cards.
Your rights relating to refunds and returned
merchandise are governed by the merchant’s own policy on refunds and returns. You must resolve issues of this
type directly with the merchant.
(g) Limitation on Availability of Services. Some of these services may not be available at all ATMs or POS
terminals.
We are a member of the “NYCE®”, “Cirrus®”, and “Plus®” ATM networks and all of the transactions
previously described in (d) and (e) may not be available at all ATMs or POS terminals where you can use your Card. Different limitations on withdrawals, deposits and
other transfers may apply.
(h) Check Conversion Services. You may consent to have a merchant or other business use your checks or
information from your checks to create one-time electronic payments from your accounts.
(i) Bill Payments through Biller’s Website.
You can, through the website of a participating biller,
access your Account to make a payment to that biller, by
providing certain requested account information, such as information from your ATM or debit card. There may be limits on
the dollar amount you can pay in this way.
(j) Account to Account Payments. You can, at ATMs of participating financial Institutions, or using other
methods allowed by the participating financial institution,
transfer funds from your Account to another of your accounts
or to an account of another person, by providing certain requested account information, such as information
from your ATM or debit card. There may be limits on the
dollar amount you can transfer in this way.
II. AGREEMENT.
By signing an application or by using your Card or
by using an EFT, you agree to the rules in this
Agreement for the type of EFT service that you use. You also agree
that you will not use your Card, PIN, or any EFT service to
conduct an illegal transaction or to pay for an illegal purchase.
You
understand that we may cancel your ability to conduct EFTs if
we have reason to believe that you have used your Card, PIN, or any
EFT service for any illegal activity.
III. GENERAL LIMITATIONS.
We may limit the type and form of Account to or from which we will allow EFTs.
(a) ATM and POS Transactions. You may withdraw from ATMs no more than $500 per calendar day, per Card.
In addition to these ATM withdrawals, you may conduct
POS transactions of $500 per Card, per calendar day. The
minimum withdrawal from our ATMs is $20 and above that amount withdrawals must be in multiples of $20.
(b) Visa Check Card Purchases. In addition to the ATM withdrawals and POS transactions described above, if you have a Visa Check Card, you can use your Card to
make additional purchases at merchants that accept
Visa Debit Cards. When you make a purchase using your
Visa Check Card, you authorize us to put a hold on your account for the amount of the transaction. We will
hold funds for Visa Check Card transactions up to a
maximum transaction limit of $2,000 per Card at any one
time. If you have a Premier Visa Check Card, the maximum
transaction limit is $5,000. When the transaction has cleared,
the funds on which we have placed a hold will be debited
from your Account, and will no longer be counted toward
your maximum transaction limit. Please note that the
dollar amount of the hold is based on the amount of the
authorization requested. For some merchants, this may be larger than the actual purchase amount. Some hotels,
car rental agencies, restaurants, and gas stations
typically request authorizations for higher dollar amounts
than the actual amount of the purchase transaction. For
example, suppose you use your Visa Check Card to pay for a
$15 gasoline purchase at a gas station. The gas station
may request an authorization for $50. The $50 hold will
remain until the actual purchased amount ($15) is debited
from your account. You agree that we are not responsible
if we dishonor other POS, ATM or check transactions drawn
on your Account because we have held funds or debited funds from your Account based on a Visa Check Card transaction.
(c) International Visa Check Card Transactions.
For international transactions, we will use as the exchange rate for VISA transactions either the (i) wholesale market
rate or (ii) the government-mandated rate, in effect one day
prior to the transaction processing date and increased by
one percent. The exchange rate
between the transaction currency and the billing currency
used for processing international transactions, is (i) a rate
selected by VISA from the range of rates available in
wholesale currency markets for the applicable central processing date, which rate may vary from the rates Visa itself
receives, or (ii) the government-mandated rate in effect for the
applicable central processing date plus one percent.
(d) Limitations Based on Available Funds.
If on a particular day, the amount of Available Funds in your Account and under Reserve Credit total less than the amount stated in this section applicable to the Card, your
total ATM withdrawals and POS transactions (including Visa Check Card purchases) may not exceed the total of Available Funds that day.
(e) Other Limitations. For security reasons, there may be other limitations that may apply on the number of
transactions you can conduct using your Card and/or PIN. Transfers from a Statement Savings, Passbook Savings or Money Market Account to another account or to a
third party by pre- authorized, automatic, telephone, or
computer transfer are limited by law. During a malfunction of the ATM, Point of Sale terminal or the computer
system, we may limit the dollar amount and types of EFTs you
can make including the types of Accounts you can access
to conduct ATM and Point of Sale terminal transactions
and Visa Check Card purchases.
IV. DOCUMENTATION AND TELEPHONE INQUIRY.
You have a right to receive certain types of
documentation and information concerning EFTs.
(a) Periodic Statements. You will get a monthly Account Statement.
(b) Pre-authorized Deposits. You
can arrange to have direct deposits made to your Account on a regular basis
from the same person or organization.
If you have arranged to have direct deposits made to your Account at least once every 60 days from the
same person or organization, you can call us at (203)
431-7437 or toll-free at 1-877-431-7431, ext. 7437 to find out whether
or not the deposit has been made.
(c) ATM or POS Record. You can get a written record at the time you make a transaction through an ATM or POS
terminal. This record will show certain information such as
the amount of your transaction, the type of transaction,
and the date of the transaction. Some ATMs may notify you
that receipts are unavailable and may allow transactions
without providing a receipt. If you use one of these ATMs,
you waive your right to a written record of the
transaction.
V. PRE-AUTHORIZED TRANSFERS FROM YOUR ACCOUNT.
(a) Stop Payment. If you have told us in advance to
make regular payments out of your Account, you can stop
any of these payments. Here’s how:
Call us at (203) 431-7437 or toll-free at 1-877-431-7431, ext. 7437, or write us at Fairfield County Bank,
P.O. Box 2050, Ridgefield, CT 06877, Attention: Operations Department, in time for us to receive your request 3
business days or more before the payment is scheduled to be made. If you call, we may also require you to put
your request in writing and send it to us at an address
we specify within 14 days after you call. If we require you to
put your request in writing and send it to us within 14
days and you do not do so, then your oral stop payment order
will cease 14 days after it has been made and we may make the payment if it is demanded by the particular
person or organization involved.
NOTE: If you want to stop these pre-authorized
payments permanently, you must notify the person or
organization you have told us to pay. A stop request which we receive will only stop the particular payment to
which it applies. If you instruct us to stop these payments
permanently we will do so, but we may require you to send us a copy of your notice to the person or organization
you told us to pay.
(b) Notice of Varying Amounts. If these regular payments may vary in amount, the person or organization you
are going to pay will tell you, 10 days before each
payment, when it will be made and how much it will be. You may
ask the person or organization you are going to pay to
give you this notice only when the payment would differ
by more than a certain amount from the prior payment or when the amount would fall outside certain limits
that you set. We will not be liable if the person or
organization you are going to pay fails to give you notice of varying amounts.
(c) Liability For Failure to Stop Payment of
Preauthorized Transfers.
If you order us to stop one of these payments 3 business days or more before the transfer
is scheduled and you comply with a request by us to put
your order in writing (as explained above), then if we do
not follow your order to stop payment, we will be liable
for certain types of losses or damages which you suffer.
(d) Stop EFT. Unless otherwise stated in this
Agreement, you cannot stop an EFT, other than a pre-authorized
transfer.
VI. CHARGES.
Any charges for EFTs are disclosed on our Schedule
of Charges under the heading “EFT Charges.”
VII. OUR LIABILITY FOR FAILURE TO MAKE TRANSFERS.
If we do not complete a transfer to or from your
Account in a timely manner in accordance with the terms and
conditions of your Account and normal banking procedures or in
the correct amount according to your instructions, we will
be liable for certain types of losses or damages which you suffer.
However, there are some exceptions. We will not be liable in
the following instances:
(a) We
will not be liable if, through no fault of ours, you do not have enough Available Funds in your Account to make
the transfer.
(b) We
will not be liable if the Account has a “hold” on it for the amount of all or part of the funds necessary to
make the transfer.
(c) We
will not be liable if the transfer would go over the credit limit on your Reserve Credit.
(d) We
will not be liable if the ATM or POS terminal or system was not working properly and you knew or should have known about the breakdown when you started the
transaction.
(e) We
will not be liable if you do not give us, where applicable, correct PIN and, where applicable, correct Account numbers when starting the transfer.
(f) We
will not be liable if circumstances beyond our control prevent the transfer despite reasonable precautions
that we have taken.
(g) We
will not be liable if we do not receive proper instructions or notification
for the use of the Account for EFTs
or proper instructions for the particular transfer.
(h) We
will not be liable if the ATM or POS terminal where you are making a withdrawal does not have enough cash.
(i) We
will not be liable if the funds in your Account are subject to legal process or other encumbrance restricting such transfer.
(j) We
will not be liable if your Card has deteriorated or been damaged so that is does not function properly.
(k) We
will not be liable if your Card or PIN has been reported lost or stolen.
(l) We
will not be liable if you do not follow the procedures in this or any other Agreement you have with us.
(m) We
will not be liable if we did not complete the transaction because we reasonably suspected fraud or illegal activity.
(n) There
may be other reasons under Federal or State law why we will not be liable.
VIII. RESERVE CREDIT.
If you have Reserve Credit, EFT, the Card and PIN,
and other devices may be used (as stated in section 1(d) of this Agreement) to obtain credit in the form of loan
advances under the terms disclosed to you in the Reserve
Credit Agreement which you have already received.
IX. BUSINESS DAYS.
Our business days are Monday through Friday.
Holidays are not included.
X. ACCOUNT INFORMATION DISCLOSURE.
We will disclose information to third parties about
your Account or the transfers you make in the following
instances:
(a) We will disclose information where
it is necessary for completing transactions or collecting checks.
(b) We will disclose information as
allowed by law in order to verify the existence and conditions of
your Account for a third party, such as a credit bureau.
(c) We will disclose information in
order to comply with any law, court order, or proper governmental
request, such as subpoenas, tax information, bank examinations and
reports of unusual cash transactions.
(d) We will disclose information if you
give us your written permission.
(e) We will disclose information to our
agents, auditors and collection attorneys.
(f) We will tell a holder
of one of your checks whether it would be paid if presented at the
time of the request.
(g) We will disclose information to
government officials in connection with suspected violations of law.
(h) We will disclose information to
third parties if you owe us money and we must take legal action to
get it.
(i) We may disclose information relating
to an Account which does not identify you or your Account.
(j) We
may disclose information relating to your Account which is allowed to be disclosed under state and
federal privacy laws.
XI. IF YOUR CARD OR PIN IS LOST OR STOLEN.
If you believe your Card and/or PIN has been lost or stolen or that someone has withdrawn or transferred
or may withdraw or transfer money from your Account without
your permission, call our Customer Connections during
business hours at: (203) 431-7437 or toll-free at
1-877-431-7431, ext. 7437. Or write us at:
Fairfield County Bank
P.O. Box 2050
Ridgefield, CT 06877-0950
Attention: Customer Connections
To report a lost or stolen Visa Check (Debit) Card
during non-business hours, please call the lost/stolen card
hotline at 1-800-554-8969.
XII. YOUR LIABILITY.
(a) General Rules. Tell us AT ONCE if you believe your Card or PIN has been lost or stolen. Telephoning is
the best way of keeping your possible losses down. If
you do not promptly notify us of such loss or theft you
might lose all your Available Funds. If you tell us within 2
business days after you learn of the loss or theft, you can
lose no more than $50.00 if someone used your Card or Code without your permission.
If you do NOT tell us within 2 business days after you learn of the loss or theft of your Card or PIN,
and we can prove we could have stopped someone from using your Card or PIN without your permission if you told
us, you could lose as much as $500.00.
If your statement shows transfers that you did not make, tell us AT ONCE. If you do not tell us within
60 days after the statement was mailed to you, you may
not get back
any money you lost after the 60 days if we can prove that we could
have stopped someone from taking the money if you had told us in
time.
If a good reason (such as a long trip or a hospital stay) kept
you from telling us, we will extend the time periods.
(b) Special Rules for
Visa Check (Debit) Card Purchases.
If your Card is a Visa
Check Card (this includes Premier Visa Check Cards), other limits
apply to the type of Visa Check Card purchases described previously
in Section III(b). For Visa Check Card purchases only, if you tell
us after you learn of the loss or theft of your Card, you will have
no liability for unauthorized transactions. However, if we determine
that the unauthorized transactions occurred because of your gross
negligence or fraud, this special rule on liability may not apply.
XIII. IN CASE OF
ERRORS OR QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR ELECTRONIC TRANSFERS.
If you think your
statement, or receipt is wrong, or if you need more information
about a transfer listed on the statement or receipt, call us during
business hours or write us as soon as you can.
Our phone number for
this purpose is: (203) 431-7437. Our address for this purpose is:
Fairfield County Bank
EFT Dept.
P.O. Box 2050
Ridgefield, CT 06877-0950
We must hear from you not later than 60 days after we sent the FIRST
statement on which the problem or error appeared.
(1) Tell us your name and Account number (if any).
(2) Describe the error or the transaction you are unsure about, and
explain as clearly as you can why you believe it is an error or why
you need more information.
(3) Tell us the dollar amount of the suspected error.
If you tell us orally, we may require that you send us your
complaint or question in writing within 10 business days.
We will
tell you the results of our investigation within 10 business days
after we hear from you and will correct any error promptly. (We may
extend this time period to 20 business days if the error occurred
within 30 days of the first deposit to your account.) If we need
more time, however, we may take up to 45 days to investigate your
complaint or question. (If the complaint or question concerned a
transaction that was initiated in a foreign country, a point of sale
transaction, or a transaction that occurred within 30 days of the
first deposit to your account, we may take up to 90 days to complete
our investigation.) If we decide to do this, we will recredit your
Account within 10 business days (20 business days if the error
occurred within 30 days of the first deposit to your account) for
the amount you think is in error, so that you may have the use of the money during the time it takes us to
complete our investigation.
If we ask you to put your complaint or
question in writing and we do not receive it within 10 business
days, we may not recredit your Account.
We will tell you the results
within three business days after completing our investigation. If we
decide there was no error, we will send you a written explanation.
You may ask for copies of the documents that we used in our
investigation.
XIV. SURRENDER OF CARD.
The Card belongs to us. We can take it back at any
time. You agree to surrender the Card when we or our agents request
it. While the Card is in your possession, be sure your signature is
on the back panel and keep it in a safe place.
If you have an ATM
Card issued by the Bank which accesses the same accounts as your
Visa Check (Debit) Card, we may cancel your ATM Card after you
receive your Visa Check Card.
XV. JOINT USE OF
CARD/UNAUTHORIZED USER.
You are not permitted to
authorize another person to use your Card. If you do authorize
another person to use your Card, you are responsible for all
transactions made by that person under the terms of this Agreement.
XVI. OUR RIGHTS WITH
REGARD TO OVERPAYMENTS.
If funds have been
deposited into your Accounts, to which you are not legally entitled,
by mistake or otherwise, you agree that such amounts are debts owing
from you to us and you authorize us summarily to withdraw such
amounts from the Account or any other account you have with us. We
can do this without giving you prior notice or demand. We can also
exercise our right of set-off to recover any such amount.
(An example of such an overpayment to your Account to which you are
not legally entitled would be a Social Security payment received by
direct deposit after your death.)
XVII. NON-ENFORCEMENT
OF OUR RIGHTS.
We can choose not to enforce or to delay in enforcing any of our
rights under this Agreement without losing them in the future.
XVIII. AMENDMENTS.
We can change these
rules, including, for example, adding or increasing fees. We will
give you notice of these changes as required by law.
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